Do you have Questions about,

• Ancestors ?
• Units ?
• Events ?
• Battles ?

This page was created to allow me to share with you some of the Questions that I have been asked in regards to the information I have provided on my webpage, Confederate Buff.

I would like to take this time to thank two very special people, without their help this site wouldn't exist.

Bruce Henderson has provide me with almost all my information in regards to the 8th, 13th, 66th and 67th. I usually forward questions to him in regards to these units.

Kevin Seymour has been my supplier of information regarding the 27th N.C. Inf Regiment. He compiled both rosters for Company C and Company D.

Basically what I'll be doing on this page is copying the Questions you send and posting the answers received, giving credit to the person answering the question.

If you do not want your questions posted please advice me when you send them in.

You do not have to wait for someone to ask a guestion, if you come across some information that you would like to share, this too will be posted.

INFORMATION From: bhenders@landrover.com
Subject: Fw: Nethercutt-Neithercutt - Col. John N. of Civil War fame.
          Here is a note that I got from a Nethercutt family geneology resercher.
Hi Bruce, thank you for sending along the information re: Col. John H. Nethercutt, a noted military man, commander of NC troops. A Glenn E. Nethercutt, of Sacramento, CA corresponded with me for several years at the beginning of the '90s & sent me photo- copies of pages, dealing with the 66th Regiment, "North Carolina Troops 1861-65", written by the wartime adjutant, a George Rose, pp 685-700. I also have photocopies from local newspapers, which appeared at the time of Col. N's & wife's murders in Dec. 1865. The Col's oldest son, Christopher, was killed in the war; but the couple was survived by a son, "Lafayate (sic)", which I assume was actually "Lafayette", and two daughters, Cor- nelia & Corah, all of whom had families. My California colleague is Mr. Jack B. Nethercutt, owner of Merle Norman Cosmetics. He will be 86 next month & I haven't been in touch since Jan of this year. Earlier in our associ- ation, he passed on a lot of correspondence that came to him on the Nethercutt family, and that is how I came to have the a/m info. My notes show Jordan N. as a son of William N. II, but I would need some time to check them out for more detail. Certainly the name is well-known to me. I have been thinking of the Nethercutts of northeast North Carolina, so heavily hit by "Hurri- cane Floyd". I trust that none of them were victims of the storm. Again, thank you for passing along the info, Corine Ransom is co-ordinating the Nether- cut(t) research. Much of my work has been on the pre-emigration part of the story.Sincerely, Arnold N.

QUESTION From: KATHYPARKY@aol.com
Subject: FRUILICH ? SWORD
I WAS WONDERING IF YOU WOULD KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT A SWORD I HAVE.IT WAS FOUND ON THE BATTLEFIELD AT ANTIETAM THE DAY AFTER THE BATTLE.I TOOK IT TO AN APPRAISAL SHOW THIS WEEKEND AND THE GUY WAS REALLY EXCITED AND OFFERED TO BUY IT.HE SAID IT WAS MADE BY A LOUIS FRUILICH IN 1862 AND HE THOUGHT IN NORTH CAROLINA.HE ACTED LIKE IT WAS RARE.IF YOU BY ANY CHANCE WOULD KNOW ANYTHING I WOULD GREATLY APPRECIATE IT.THANK YOU

ANSWER From: bhenders@landrover.com
          Tom Sutton has forwarded me your question on the sword from the Sharpsburg battlefield. Is there any inscription on the blade.   The size and configuration of the sword should classify it as an infantry officer's sword, an infantry NCO's sword or a cavalry sabre (I assume but do not know for sure that artillery officers's and NCO's . Did the valuator mention anything about this?   Is there a scabbard with the sword?   If so, any identifying marks on it?           I'm afraid that I don't have any direct information on your sword, but it's very interesting (Tom Sutton and I both grew up only a few miles from the armoury at Kenansville, NC that made swords and sabres). Please let us know what you find out.           Best regards, Bruce Henderson

QUESTION From: DTison5401@aol.com
Subject: 66th/67th North Carolina
Dear Sir,
I got your e-mail address from the Confederate Buff Internet site. I have just started researching my ancestors. I've done all the "easy" stuff and now have reached the point where I don't know how to dig deeper to find out more. Can you please tell me what books/rosters/information are available to help me find out more about my ancestors? I am somewhat handicapped since I live in Virginia instead of North Carolina, but I do have occasional access to the library at East Carolina University, if you can recommend books for me to review. James Sherrod May (Dec. 4, 1830-Jan. 11, 1864) was transferred from Co. C, 13th Battalion, NC Infantry, to Co. E, 66th Regiment, on Oct. 2, 1863. He was a 1st Sgt. at the time. According to North Carolina Confederate Soldiers 1861-1865, a James S. May was also 1st LT in Co. E, 66th NC Infantry. Is there any way of finding out if these are the same people? Is the "1st LT" rank in error or did my ancestor get a battlefield promotion? Richard Robert May (March 27, 1847-March 7, 1865) definitely served, but is not listed in any roster I have found. He wrote a letter dated August 27, 1864, from "Camp Near Kinston NC" where he says "We expect to have to go to Weldon if the yankees make a raid." He died on March 7, 1865, from shrapnel wounds received during the battle of Wises Fork/South West Creek. I know the 66th arrived at South West Creek on March 7, so is it likely that he belonged to the 66th? Why isn't he on any of the rosters? How can I "dig deeper" to get more information? Finally, John Joyner May's tombstone (June 5, 1848-Jan. 9, 1926) says he was a member of Co. C, 67th Regiment, NC Troops. I have not found him listed on any roster for the 67th, yet NC Confederate Soldiers 1861-1865 cites a John J. May with Co. B & C, 8th Battalion Partisan Rangers and a John J. May with Co. D, 66th Infantry, neither of which is the unit on his tombstone! He is not listed in the NC 1890 Civil War Veterans Census. Do you have any information that would show one way or the other which unit (if any) he served with? I would certainly be grateful if you could shed some light on these puzzling questions--or at least point me in the right direction to find the answers. Thank you very much for any information you can provide!

ANSWER From:  bhenders@landrover.com
          Hello.   Tom Sutton has passed your Email on to me. First, I hope you will join me in a word of thanks to Tom for all his work and vision in putting up the website on the 66th and 67th (and 27th) NC Regiments.           Welcome to the wierd and wonderful world of researching North Carolina soldiers.   First, I have to tell you that few N. C. records survived the war. I don't know if the fact that Sherman took Raleigh late in the War had anything to do with it, but the fact remains that there are few records.           The Rosters on Tom's website are taken from Moore's Rosters, published by the State of NC in 1881.   John Moore was an artillery officer in the War and his volume seems pretty painstakingly taken from muster rolls to compile complete Rosters -- well, as complete as possible, any way. Moore's work is good in that it was fresh (within 15 years of the War) but it also suffers in that many records were kept and/or hidden by NC soldiers and these records came to light later. Oddly enough, we can now do a better job in many instances than Moore could.           Moore shows James S. May as 1st. Sgt. in Co. E, 66th Regiment, N. C. Troops. But Moore also shows Guilford Cox and John P. Sykes as Captain of the company.   Now we know that Cox organized the company as an independent company of Railroad Guards but he never seems to have served with the 66th. John P. Sykes was Captain of Company K (he was killed at the Battle of the Crater in August, 1864 and left my gg-grandfather in command of the company). All the other histories of Co. E show Stephen Quinnerly as Captain, with Ivan Witherington as 1st. Lieutenant. But you will notice (by looking at the roster on Tom's website) that there are three 1st Lieutenants and three 2nd Lieutenants listed for Co. E.   All this is a long-winded way of saying that there seems to have been quite a bit of movement among the officers of Co. E. (This is to be expected in that regiments were usually arrayed in double lines in battle.   Thus companies A - E would be lined up in front and companies F - K would be in line behind them.   The end companies always got more pressure and suffered more casualties -- and it looks as if these companies were selected in the 66th. Co. A of the 13th was full of well-educated soldiers from Chapel Hill and Hillsborough [in the 19th century, this meant having gone to military school for high school) and was kept as Co. A of the 66th.   Co. C of the 13th was made the other front anchor, having served long under Capt. Cox as a company of Railroad Guards and it was made Co. E of the 66th.   Major Nethercutt's original company from the 8th Battalion was made Co. F and Company D of the 13th was made Co. K. I do not believe this was an accident -- Col. Moore, Lt. Col. Nethercutt, and Major Wright picked their best companies for their "anchor" companies.)           So, it appears that it would be very easy for some clerk to mis-read "1st St" as "1st Lt" and copy down the rank incorrectly.   However, in view of the number of men who were officers of Co. E, it appears to me that there is a good chance that the 1st Sgt. *was* actually promoted to be an officer.   Another thing that might play a part here is that James S. May died in early January, 1864. Since the regiment was only organized in early October, 1863, that did not leave much time for him to have received this promotion -- you will have to dig more.           Richard R. May is a bigger question, but we do have one clue. You say that he wrote a letter in August 27, 1864 from "Camp near Kinston NC". Since the 66th had been made a part of Kirkland's Brigade in Hoke's Division and was definitely well entrenched in Petersburg, VA at the time, I think that this pretty definitely establishes R. R. May as having been in another unit and probably the 67th.   (There is some chance that he could have been on detached duty, but the "Camp near Kinston" makes this unlikely.)   The 67th was combined with the 68th Regiment NC Troops (and elements of artillery from Fort Fisher and nearby forts serving as infantry) by the time of Wyse's Forks. Colonel Whitford was effectively acting as a Brigadier General. The history of the 67th says clearly that the 67th led the charge on March 7th at Wyse's Forks, so I would guess that R. R. May was in the 67th.   My g-grandfather also does not appear in any record of the 67th, but the 67th never "entered Confederate service" -- it remained in "State service" for all the War. Most of the records that survived were records that were compiled by Confederate authorities, but none of the muster rolls, pay records, sick or furlough records, etc. were forwarded to Richmond on the 67th.           Regarding John J. May, I think it is quite likely that he served with both the 66th and 67th regiments (or perhaps he transferred to the 67th when the 66th was formally organized as a Regiment for "Confederate service"). I have the feeling that many of the men in State service - such as Nethercutt's Battalion (8th) and the 67th -- felt that they were "in the service for local defence". In fact, the 67th was known as "1st Battalion Local Defence Troops" or "Whitford's Local Defence Battalion" before it was formally organized as the 67th in January, 1964 (three months after the 66th was organized). My guess is that J. J. May saw the 66th being organized four months after Gettysburg and foresaw them marching away to join the heavily engaged forces in Virginia. If he saw "his War" as being near to and protecting his home and family, it would seem likely that he transferred to the 67th, which, indeed, never left NC.   Many of the men in Co. I of the 67th had transferred from Co. E of Nethercutt's Battalion. Also, as another example, my g-grandfather's company captains in the 67th had earlier served in Nethercutt's Battalion and/or the 66th Regiment.           For the past 40 years, the N. C. Division of Archives and History has been working on a project to fully document every N. C. soldier. This project has published 14 volumes of histories. The volume on Cavalry includes info on Nethercutt's (8th) Battalion but, so far, the infantry regiments covered have only reached the 61st -- so the 66th (and the histories of the individual soldiers after they left the 13th or 8th Battalions) and the 67th Regiments are not published yet. But there is good news -- the staff at the Division are working to pull together all the records of the units formed late in the War. All the books published before were compiled and edited by Manarin (first 7 or 8 volumes) and Jordan (later volumes), so go to your reference library and ask for "North Carolina Troops -- 1861 - 1865 A Roster" authored by Manarin and Jordan. The 8th Battalion is listed in the cavalry volume and the 13th is in one of the infantry volumes.           Also, it is possible to write to the Division in Raleigh (check the webpage -- sorry, I am out of the country and don't have web access). Give them all the info that you have and ask them if their data confirms it and if they can add to it.           You already have lots of good information, so you should feel good about what you have done. Unfortunately, it gets harder from here, but the gratification is also better when you find more.           What are the relationships between these men? Where was their home? (I assume that the May's in Co. B of the 13th can be disregarded -- most of these men were from north of Raleigh or the area around Franklin county.)           Sorry I can't help more, but please sign Tom's Guestbook on his website and write up what you know on the Descendant's page. And please keep us informed of what you find out.           Best regards in Tar Heel pride, Bruce Henderson

QUESTION from:    RMS1948@aol.com
Subject: Islam (or Isham) Sholar -- Confederate Soldier

I notice Islam Sholar 4th Sergeant in the 66th NC. Can you give me any information on him as I can't associate him to my family.

ANSWER from: bhenders@landrover.com
---- The information in Moore's Rosters of NC Troops, published by the State of NC in 1881, shows Islam (sometimes spelled Isham) Sholar as enlisting from Duplin co on Feb 12th, 1863. Although James Davis's company was raised primarily in Duplin co. of Duplin men, Islam Sholar was the only Duplin county man to be made a non-commissioned officer -- I think that most of the others were transferred from other companies in Nethercutt's Battalion, and Sholar probably was, too, since he enlisted approx three months before the company was formed. He probably had shown good skills in another company and was transferred when James Davis's company was formed. The commissioned officers were names Cherry, Swinson and Williamson, so I suspect they were from Duplin. In the late 1880's, the U. S. Government did a project to catalogue every solder who fought in the War Between the States. In the National Archives, there is a card that catalogues every mention of every soldier. Filed next to that card is a copy of each record. If you follow the instructions in Tom Sutton's website, you will be able to get copies of each piece of paper that applies to him. Ask for "Islam or Isham Sholar -- 8th Battalion, NC Partisan Rangers (Nethercutt's Battalion) and/or 66th Regiment, N. C. Troops". I hope this is helpful.
Bruce Henderson (originally from Wallce, Duplin co.NC)

Question from:  RedEyeExpress@worldnet.att.net
Subject: Looking for family
I'm looking for complete names for (William) ? Jesse Boyette Co. C / 66th NC Inf. and James W. Boyette Co. E / 66th NC Inf.. Any information about them would be great.
THANK YOU for the history lesson on the 66th. Where can I find info. on CLARK'S SPECIAL BATT'N NC MILITA. TIM

Answer from: bhenders@landrover.com
The listing for these men in Moore's "Rosters of North Carolina Troops", published by the State of North Carolina in 1881, James W. Boyette, enlisted Jan 28, 1862, from Lenoir county. and Jesse Boyette, enlisted February 20, 1863, from Lenoir county. We have two problems with "Moore's".  First, it is not annotated (so we can't trace the accuracy of individual items) and, second, there is no roster listed for Nethercutt's Partisan Ranger Battalion.  The second is particularly troubling, since it is often helpful to compare Moore's rosters for the 13th Battalion with those for the successor companies in the 66th.  The first causes problems because Moore's does not seem to be particularly accurate. Moore (a former Artillery officer in North Carolina forces) was working with the materials available -- mostly surviving roster lists from records in Raleigh -- but many materials were dispersed and/ or hidden by the various units. Since some of these materials have been found, it is sometimes easier to get accurate information now than in 1881. Also, I wonder if much of the work in Moore's was not farmed out to clerks of various skill and interest levels. In any case, Moore was not tasked with compiling a complete history of each man's service. Still, there appear to be various errors in Moore's.
   Also, there seems to be some bias in the various records. Particularly, the county that men were from seems to vary a lot in terms of accuracy (my g-g- grandfather is listed as being from New Hanover when he joined Wilmington- Weldon Railroad Guards/ Company D, 13th Battalion/ Company K, 66th Regiment, when all other records that I can find indicate that he lived in Sampson county.   I think that there are two explanations for these errors. First, the enlistment system worked that the enlisting officers would follow the men to places where it was obvious that men wanted to enlist (or where enlistment would encourage them to).   A company would begin enlisting in Kinston and draw those available men, then the enlisting officers would move to Pink Hill to enlist men there, then go to La Grange a few days after that.   All or most of the men would be listed as Lenoir county, but I can't help but believe that the Pink Hill enlistees would include some Duplin men and the La Grange enlistees would include men from Wayne and Greene counties. It may have been that the enlisting officers felt that they should enroll by county of enlistment (rather than residence) or they just may have taken a guess at where men were from. Secondly, it might have been that companies were raised in counties for specific reasons. Say there are two brothers who were brought up on a farm near Kinston. One brother stays on the farm and one brother moves to Goldsborough. The Union takes New Bern, the war is hotting up, and the Confederate Conscription Act is passed. The brother near Kinston says "I hear that they are enlisting a company of Lenoir men to stay near home as Partisan Rangers (or railroad guards), but they're only accepting Lenoir men. I don't think I like the idea of being shipped off to Virginia or who knows where - I have a wife and children at home".   So, both men enlist on the same day and show their residence as Lenoir.  Often the only way to trace these issues down is to look at Census records, tax lists, and voter rolls in the counties -- most of this is a matter for digging in the counties or Archives and History in Raleigh.
 There may be something we can infer from the entries for these men. Let's look at the listing for Jesse Boyette. He joined what would become company C of the 66th Regiment on February 20, 1863. This company enlisted in Kinston (Lenoir county) with David S. Davis as captain on July 23, 1862 and combined with Nethercutt's company on August 22 - 23, 1862 to form the 8th Battalion, N. C. Partisan Rangers.  Therefore, Jesse Boyette's enlistment date is shown as being about six months after the company was formed.  This sometimes indicates a younger soldier, who enlisted as he became 18 and sometimes an older man who had been earlier reluctant to leave his family.
   For James W. Boyette, he was a member of a company that had been originally raised in Wayne and Lenoir Counties as Captain Guilford W. Cox's Independent Company of Bridge Guards, N. C. Troops. There are no clear records as to when enlistments started or when the company began to operate as such, but an enlistment date of January 28, 1862 would indicate that he was one of the original (or, at least, early) enlistees in the company. He is shown on rosters for Company C of the 13th Battalion indicating that he served in this unit all or some of the time from May, 1863 through September, 1863. It's important to look at the records of the 13th Battalion to confirm Moore's data since there seems to be much variation in Moore's accuracy in regard to dates.
          This is as much as my compiled info indicates on these soldiers. I would suggest looking at Census data. The 1860 census (and 1850 census) lists the name of each person in each household, their relationship to the head of the household, their age, and occupation.  The listings are by county and district, so sometimes nearby households are listed together and this can be a clue to kinship. The 1850 census can be useful in that soldiers who are shown as heads of households in 1860 (thus obscuring family relationships) can sometimes be found living at home in the 1850 census with parents, brothers, sisters, etc and this can help establish family links and original places of residence.
    I have not seen any published information on Clark's Special Battalion but I believe that I saw a microfilm on this unit in the National Archives when I was looking for information on Whitford's Battalion. Sorry, I don't have any more information on this organization.
   I hope this information is helpful. Best regards, Bruce Henderson

   QUESTION From: tar@ponyexpress.net
Subject: Re: T. Windsor
I found your website about the 66th N.C. Regiment. I am doing some research on my great grandfather, Thomas Windsor. There is a T.. Windsor listed in your Co. "G". Did you possibly have any other info about him? Another website stated he was killed in the Civil War at Kinston, Craven, N.C. And that he was also buried there. I'm trying to find out where he might be buried, or if he was buried possibly in a mass grave. My name is Helen Rehm (tar@ponyexpress.net)
    Thanks so much for all your hard work putting this thing together. It is really important to so many people trying to find out what happened to their loved ones.

ANSWER From: PARTISANRNGR@aol.com
        Dear Helen - The only information listed in the official roster on Company G shows every man in the company with an enlistment date of Sep 11th, 62 and a residence of "Lenoir Co." (except for one man), but in a separate note, the compiler of the roster (in 1881) said "the origin of this company is uncertain and may have come from Rowan county". We know that the "Lenoir co." attribution is wrong -- the company was formed by transfer of men from the Salisbury Prison Guard battalion into a company for active service. (The 42nd Regiment, which was also in Kirkland's Brigade, was founded in the same way but at an earlier date.)   Apparently, the men in the Salisbury prison guard were enlisted for six month periods -- there was some resistance from some men in the 42nd to having their terms of enlistment changed, so it is very likely that the identical date September 11, 1862 as enlistment actually reflects a "rollover" of earlier enlistments and is not the actual date of first enlistment of the men.         On March 7, 1865, Hoke's North Carolina Division (which included Kirkland's Brigade and the 66th N. C. Regiment) attacked a Union Army Corps under General Cox that was moving from New Berne towards Goldsborough to meet General Sherman's march north from South Carolina. Hoke manuvered by sending Whitford's Brigade (mostly consisting of the 67th N. C. Regiment and other guerilla units, mostly formed from men in the local area) directly into the front of the Union column. Whitford's troops had been stationed between Kinston and New Berne and when the Union troops saw them attack, they must have thought that this was an attack by a small, local unit. What they didn't know was that Kirkland's entire brigade (about 2,500 men) had moved along the Neuse river and were almost behind them. The Union column waited for their front elements to clear away Whitford's troops, not knowing that Colquitt's North Carolina Brigade, Clingman's Georgia Brigade and Hagood's South Carolina Brigade had moved up to reinforce Whitford. As the Union column piled up in a "traffic jam" and established defensive formations to the front, Kirkland's Brigade made a surprize attack into their flank. This attack routed the rear of the Union column, cut them off from reinforcements supplies and communications with New Berne, and resulted in the capture of about 1,500 Union soldiers (including a general) and four cannon. The Union forces began to dig trenches while awaiting help from New Berne and Kirkland's Brigade moved back a couple of miles towards Kinston to join the rest of the Confederate army. There was no action the next day, but it became clear that the only way for the Confederates to win a convincing victory was to attack again and force the Union forces to retire to New Berne before more Union reinforcements arrived (Union forces already outnumbered the Confederates by about 12,000 to 7,000). Kirkland's Brigade was ordered to again try a flanking attack but this time they ran up against prepared Union entrenchments. They fought their way into and over these entrenchements, but suffered horrible casualties doing so and could not hold their gains. Other Confederate attacks gave no better results. The histories of the 66fh and Kirkland's Brigade estimate that one half of Kirkland's troops were killed, captured, or left on the battlefield wounded.         Since it became clear that the Confederate forces were not strong enough to hold back Cox's advance, Hoke's Division was withdrawn to join Johnston's Army (and took part in the Battle of Bentonville about a week and a half later). This meant that any of the Confederate troops who were killed or wounded were left on the field and they were taken care of by the Union troops. But this points to a discrepancy in your account. Kinston (and the actual site of the battle about three miles from Kinston at Wyse's Fork) are in Lenoir county while New Berne is in Craven county.   This would make me guess that your ancestor might have been wounded and taken to a hospital in New Berne but died of his wounds there. Unfortunately, this late in the War, the Confederate forces were suffering from lack of supplies. Few records were kept and many of those that were prepared were lost in hasty moves.         One thing that might help you is that Union records continued to be kept well right up to the end of the war. The National Archives has listings called "Consolidated Records" that file every record of each man ever made --either from captured or surrendered records or from Union records.   There is a chance that the Archives may have a record of your ancestor's death (Union hospital hospital records were very good). I would go over and have a look for you but I am away on a business trip for the next six weeks or so. I suggest that you go back to Tom's website and look at his instructions for how to obtain Archive records.   You should give all the information that you have (i. e. "T. or Thomas Windsor, Co. G, 66th North Carolina Regiment") with your request to the Archives.         Where did your ancestor live before the War? Was he indeed from the Salisbury area? I hope that this is helpful. Best regards, Bruce Henderson (PS - Here is the explanation for some of the terms used. A "company" should have had about 100 men (but men were away on sick leave, or were "detached" for duty as wagon drivers or hospital attendants, etc. so they were rarely fully manned) and a regiment was made up of 10 companies. Thus a full regiment would be about 1000 men but in reality were usually 600 - 700. Regiments were grouped together in three's or four's into brigades, under a brigadier general. Brigades were grouped together into divisions, headed by a major general.   Thus your ancestor was in: Co. G, which was one of ten companies in; 66th, NC Regiment, which was one of three regiments in; Kirkland's Brigade, one of five or six brigades in; Hoke's Division, Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia.)

If you have additional or even different information to add to any of the answers given, please fill free to do so.